


Treed

by ForgottenChesire



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, First Kiss, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, There be dinosaurs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 00:45:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14682963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForgottenChesire/pseuds/ForgottenChesire
Summary: Two have grown to four. Idly Oswald wonders if they enjoy the scent treed humans produce or if there are so many loose that other food is not available. This won’t be like those movies, the creator had assured him. No mixing of dangerous DNA into the broken DNA of the dinosaurs. We’re only making two of each species, they said. Come visit our perfect island, they said. Oswald chances a look at Edward wondering if he fell into the role of Malcolm. The naysayer. The one who tried to tell the money hunger midget not to build the park. Then with a grimace, he realizes that he fits the bill of Hammond a bit too well.





	Treed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Remlundskan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Remlundskan/gifts).



“Edward, old friend, I know we haven’t had the most… conventional friendship.”

 

Oswald laughs, a rickety laugh, scared and breathless. He presses himself into Edward. It feels good. Oh so good.

 

“Arkham, and then that mess with well-”

 

“You killed my girlfriend.”

 

“Yes. And now we’ve been treed by two carnivorous dinosaurs.”

 

Neither mention that Edward tried to kill him in retribution for Isabella. The dinosaurs in question snarl. One jumps up, sharp teeth gleaming as they snap and snip. Oswald watches them in a detached way. His heart is pounding in his chest, he wonders if they can hear it. All it would take is Edward to put the slightest pressure and he would fall. Edward would have his revenge. Oswald would be gone and the vicious things below would be sated at least for a little bit.

 

“Whatever you are thinking,” Ed starts to say hands gripping Oswald’s hips, “don’t.”

 

Oswald laughs again.

 

“I’m thinking that I want my money back.”

 

Edward laughs. A sound that Oswald has missed. He made a grievous error killing Isabella. In his desperate need not to lose his best friend, he pushed the man away. Broke him in ways that Oswald knew were hard to fix. That’s not to say that he wouldn’t do it again. Isabella rubbed him the wrong way. Pushed herself into his life. Edward knew that he wasn’t the sanest man on the planet. And he had warned that blonde menace not to push him. She pushed and he pushed back. Unfortunately, he pushed too hard.

 

“I did not realize that you spent money on this trip,” Edward says, tilting his head. His glasses are scratched, Oswald notices absently mindedly. A look that he has missed comes onto his old friend’s face like there is a puzzle to be solved.

 

“I am an investor. Wanted to see what my money was creating.”

 

Edward squints at him. It’s a look that has his eyes scrunched up and lips slightly pursed. Oswald wants to kiss the look off of his face. The dinosaurs below take the moment to ram the tree. It’s only Edward’s hands on him that keep Oswald from falling.

 

“I knew nothing of your involvement until I saw you in the helicopter.”

 

They lapse into silence, or as close to silence as they can get with dinosaurs below them. Two have grown to four. Idly Oswald wonders if they enjoy the scent treed humans produce or if there are so many loose that other food is not available. This won’t be like those movies, the creator had assured him. No mixing of dangerous DNA into the broken DNA of the dinosaurs. We’re only making two of each species, they said. Come visit our perfect island, they said. Oswald chances a look at Edward wondering if he fell into the role of Malcolm. The naysayer. The one who tried to tell the money hunger midget not to build the park. Then with a grimace, he realizes that he fits the bill of Hammond a bit too well.

 

“I am not going to be eaten by chicken-sized dinosaurs believed to have been the dung beetle of the time,” he mutters.

 

“Neither one of us are going to die on this island.”

 

“While I appreciate your optimism, I sincerely doubt that.”

 

“Oswald-” Edward cuts himself off and looks away. The weekend had started so well. The helicopter had arrived in Gotham. Picking him, Oswald and three others up. Edward recognized two of the three strangers. Vaguely. They had interesting theories. Broad and far-reaching, over dinosaurs and evolution. The last one was a pudgy middle-aged man that screamed wealth like Oswald screamed emotionally needy.

 

The island was something that Edward doubted would work. Too many factors. Too many chances for it to go wrong but, what child didn’t have at least a curiosity of dinosaurs?

 

The pudgy man, Remington Clarks the Third, was the first to die. There were no T-Rex’s to tear him apart. Not like the books that the man behind this madness had wanted to avoid copying. Instead, he was munched on by the _Allosaurus’_ that was the first species the madman created. The tour was suspended and they were brought back to the compound. But by then it was too late. The madman had focused on carnivores, apparently fascinated by how they hunted and only really brought back herbivores to watch the hunters hunt. Oh to have the money to waste on senselessness.

 

“You once told me that you would do anything for me,” Oswald speaks snapping Edward out of his thoughts. He looks down at the shorter man. The complete relief that he felt when he saw Oswald on that helicopter, insane as it is to be relieved that you failed to kill someone, still holds true. He moves one hand up the side of Oswald’s body, feeling the concerning dip and jut of every bone through the fabric.

 

“It still holds true. You’re my friend but not only that… I can be blind, I can be powerful, I can be difficult, deep, complicated, and tender at the same time. What am I?”

 

“Love. I don’t-”

 

Edward bends down brushing a kiss across Oswald’s lips. A look enters those ice blue eyes that Edward doesn’t know. It’s not one that has been directed at him before. He pushes that out and kisses Oswald’s mouth, blocking out the snarling below them. They pull apart, breathless and red.

 

“What do you know, miracles do happen.”

 

“When we escape, I’ll kiss you properly. We have much to discuss. Old demons to put to bed,” Edward whispers into his ear. They settle in for a long night. Finding a thick branch to sleep on. It’s… comforting to hold Oswald in his arms, the voice inside his head silent.

 

In the morning the sound of a motor wakes them. The sound of tires squealing, someone screaming causes them to nearly fall out of their tree. Edward watches in a detached way as the raptor, completely historically inaccurate, eats one of the men in the soft topped jeep. The other manages to scare away the raptor. But Edward knows it hasn’t gone far. The jeep, with the man shouting at them to hurry up and get in the damn jeep so they can escape.

 

“ _We_ won’t make it.”

 

That is a strange emphasis on we.

 

“I need you to trust me, one more time old friend.”

 

He really doesn’t like the sound of that. Oswald lurches up and kisses him fiercely.

 

“No more resurrection though.”

 

Before Edward can react Oswald is awkwardly climbing down the tree leaving him to scramble after him.

 

“Oswald!”

 

“Run!”

 

Oswald drops to the ground, limping and making as much noise as he can. Edward drops down, taking a step toward Oswald only be pulled back. He watches as Oswald runs into the jungle. He’s dragged back toward the jeep, desperately wishing that Oswald will appear. And then the screams start. Loud. Piercing. Oswald in pain.

 

“Don’t waste your friend's sacrifice.”

 

It’s hissed into his ear as he is pulled into the jeep. The body of a run over raptor disappearing under it along with the mangled body of the other man from the jeep. He survives. He survives but Oswald does not. It feels like coming to and finding that he killed Kristen. It’s a pain that leaves him frozen and pained. Not even the Riddler is active in his head except for; what begins and has no end and ends all that begins?


End file.
